Ambassador: Nuclear energy program Iran’s legal right
Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh says the nuclear energy program is a legal right of the country and a national issue with a bright future ahead, Press TV reported.
"Iran uses nuclear technology for completely peaceful objectives, which have been reiterated in the NPT (the Non-Proliferation Treaty), such as energy generation and its use for scientific purposes including in medical and agricultural sectors," Soltanieh said on Wednesday.
He added that through its nuclear energy program, Iran seeks a new opportunity to enter modern economic fields.
The envoy emphasized that the global arrogance uses Iran's nuclear energy program as an excuse to exert pressure and issue threats against the country with the purpose of "preventing Iran from gaining access to a [reliable] energy source."
Soltanieh said that Iran has so far had extensive cooperation with the UN nuclear agency in line with the NPT regulations and would proceed with its cooperation with the IAEA in the future.
The IAEA has inspected Iran's nuclear sites without any limits and in accordance with the NPT and reported no diversion in the Islamic Republic's nuclear energy activities, he said.
Soltanieh's remarks came ahead of a fresh round of talks between
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus
Germany known as the P5+1.
Iran's negotiating team on Thursday arrived in Kazakhstan's Almaty
for the upcoming nuclear talks with the P5+1 group.
Iran's delegation includes Chairman of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Saeed Jalili and his deputy Ali Bagheri, Deputy Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Minister's advisor Hamid Reza Asgari, and Iran's former ambassador in UK Rasul Movahedian.
It has been previously reported that the next round of talks between Iran and P5+1 is to be held for the second time in Almaty, on Friday.
The previous round of talks was held in the same city on Feb 26-27. A technical round of negotiation was also held between experts of the two sides in Istanbul on March 18.
According to Reuters, some Western officials have been
suggesting there could be a chance of diplomatic progress in the
long standoff over Iran's nuclear activities.
The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a
nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies.
Iran has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.